Greggs hope to make a Dome crust

Millions of people are likely to visit the Millennium Dome - and Ian Gregg, chairman of bakery shop chain Greggs, hopes they will be hungry.

He claims Greggs will have 'the only sandwich bar in the place'.

He hopes the 3,000sq ft Bakers' Oven outlet will boost the group's profile. He is edging the Bakers' Oven chain towards more upmarket brie-and-grape sandwiches and the like, while the traditional Greggs chain is more cheese-and-tomato.

But it was Greggs' sales that rose 6.7pc like-for-like last year, while Bakers' Oven increased by a modest 1.8pc.

Nevertheless, the group is serving tasty fillings to shareholders following last year's record profits of £20.2m pre-tax, up 12pc.

Dividends rose 11pc to 41p, and the shares - worth just £7 five years ago - added another 62p to 2612p - not cheap, at 19-times likely earnings, but justified by the track record up to now.